Obradovich: Sam Clovis brings depth to the GOP primary debate

Jun. 26, 2013

Sam Clovis

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Sam Clovis, a Republican running for U.S. Senate, seems easy to stereotype. If you heard he was a conservative radio talk-show host from Sioux City who appeals to the tea party, you might imagine that’s everything you need to know about him.

Some things are rather predictable, to be sure. During a phone interview from his home, a passel of dogs barking in the background, he says the federal government is “too big to succeed.” He calls the immigration bill pending before the Senate “an abomination.” That’s nothing different than you’d hear from any conservative radio personality.

I asked how he positions himself in the Republican Party. “I am gaining a lot of support from tea party people across the state,” he said. “I don’t think a lot of people understand the tea party, and I do.”

Clovis doesn’t necessarily present positions that break him out of the mold. His top priority is tax reform, and he checks all of the religious-conservative boxes on abortion, marriage and other social issues. However, he says his background and experience mark him as more than the media stereotype of “another social-conservative loony from northwest Iowa.”

Clovis is worth watching in part because of his relationship with presidential candidate and 2012 Iowa caucuses winner Rick Santorum. Clovis has signed on some of the former senator’s campaign staff. If he emulates Santorum’s campaign style, expect an effort based far more heavily on shoe leather than TV ads.

He’s also in the unusual position of being an outsider, never elected to political office, but with an extensive record of positions on issues. That’s because he’s a published author as well as a former radio host. He has resigned his job at KSCJ-AM in light of his campaign.

He said he believes he can appeal to the party establishment, for example, if he can avoid being pigeonholed by the media and others.

“I’ve got a doctorate. I’ve served this country. I’ve done a lot of other things to prepare for this office, and I would hope that people would give the total picture (a look) and then make the judgment whether or not they can support that,” he said.

Clovis spent 25 years in the U.S. Air Force, as a pilot, and has also worked as a military contractor. He’s an academic and professor at Morningside College in Sioux City. He has studied and written about national defense, immigration and homeland security. He was a fellow with the Homeland Security Institute, now called the Homeland Security Studies and Analysis Institute. Judging from the current list of fellows, this is not a posting for dilettantes. He’s also a senior lecturer on homeland security with at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif.

So when Clovis says the Department of Homeland Security is a “train wreck,” with terrible morale and “vacuous and vacant” leadership, he’s not just reading that off the back of a tea party pamphlet. Voters may or may not agree with him, but they should at least know he’s studied the situation himself and drawn that conclusion.

On immigration, his position may not look much different from that of other Republican conservatives in the race. But it’s safe to say he’s conversant on the issue far beyond the usual partisan talking points. For example, while strongly opposing the Senate immigration bill, he raises a cogent argument about the need to sustain an adequate funding commitment for border security and enforcement programs over time, not just for a year or two.

Clovis has the potential to bring more depth to the GOP primary debate, especially on issues related to national security and defense, homeland security and immigration. He may not be on the same frequency as many Republican voters, but they should give Clovis a listen before they turn the dial.